2017

MARKETING
MUST DOS

Digital marketing
trends for 2017 and
how to leverage them
for small business
success.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
MARKET IN REAL TIME
BRING THE OFFLINE, ONLINE
HIT THE BULLSEYE
WITH ONLINE ADVERTISING
PRODUCE CONTENT FOR HUMANS
LEVERAGE MICROINFLUENCERS
THINK OUTSIDE OF THE INBOX
WITH EMAIL

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 INTRODUCTION

Digital marketing is always coming out with new trends, neat tools
and nifty technology. However, the new and the nifty is of no benefit
to your business if you aren’t prepared for them; and you can’t
prepare for things you don’t know are coming!

To position your business for marketing success for

each new year, you have got to be on the lookout.

Yet you are business owner, not a marketing or technology

specialist; and you barely have enough time to run your business,
let alone research marketing trends. Well, that’s exactly why we’ve
created the 2017 Marketing Must Dos!

In this eBook, we identify six digital marketing

trends that will be of utmost importance in 2017,
and show you how to make the most of them
with your marketing activities.

Instead of getting left behind by the changes in digital

marketing, use this eBook to anticipate them, prepare for
them, and harness them for business growth.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #1

MARKET IN
REAL TIME
WHY 2017?
Our growing number of mobile devices and
increasing internet speed has made information
readily available, literally at our fingertips, no
matter where we are. As a result, our sense of
immediacy has turned into an expectation of
immediacy.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #1
MARKET IN REAL TIME

WHAT’S THE BENEFIT?

Real-time marketing allows you to provide the type and speed of
information your target audience is looking for in 2017.
With it you can:

Quickly provide your audience with offers,

events, and information about your business.

Instantly reach with your audience at the

moments they are most likely to engage.

This ultimately offers your audience more opportunities to engage

with and deepen their connection to your business.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #1
MARKET IN REAL TIME

HOW TO DO IT
Use social media! Put out quick and bite sized bits of content that
users can digest easily, access quickly, and remember.

Newsfeeds
Post photos or videos of new products and
services, customer reactions and testimonials, or
pre-event setup.

Livestreams
Use Facebook Live to livestream a grand opening
with a promotion to get nearby followers to stop in.

Stories
Create Instagram or Snapchat stories around the
day-to-day in your office, to give followers a
behind the scenes look.

Time-limited Offers
Host a one day sale or contest with a deadline.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #2

BRING THE
OFFLINE,
ONLINE
WHY 2017?
Geodata and machine learning have led to the
rise of location-based services. Consumers are
no longer walking around looking for signs about
sales, or looking up discounts online. In fact,
they’re walking around with heads down!—on
their smartphone, waiting for offers to be brought
to them based on their location.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #2
BRING THE OFFLINE,
ONLINE

WHAT’S THE BENEFIT?

Bringing offline efforts online will allow you to:

Extend your reach—past existing customers

or people who live near you, and out to new
customers who didn’t know you existed or
who might just be visiting the area.

Increase the exposure for your promotions,

and therefore the likelihood their success.

Don’t forget: Consistent marketing is successful marketing!

Merging your offline and online efforts facilitates consistency.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #2
BRING THE OFFLINE,
ONLINE
HOW TO DO IT
Promote in-person offers via social media, email, and on your
business website. For example:
A sandwich board outside of your shop will attract local foot
SALE
traffic only. Posting a photo of the sign on social media gets
instant widespread exposure.

A coupon offered in store will only attract current customers.

A picture of that coupon online will bring in new customers.

Bring the online offline too! Share at your physical location what’s
happening online to get more people on board. For example:
Print out happy customer Instagram posts or tweets and
hang them in your store.
Announce social media contests and results on bulletin
boards and flyers.
Include your custom hashtag and a fan photo on postcards.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #3

HIT THE
BULLSEYE
WITH ONLINE
ADVERTISING
WHY 2017?
Targeting technology on social media platforms
and search engines is achieving new heights. In
addition, the amount of time consumers are
spending online continues to rise.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #3
HIT THE BULLSEYE
WITH ONLINE ADVERTISING

WHAT’S THE BENEFIT?

Targeted online advertising allows you to choose which types of
people your ads are shown to, based on information such as
geographic location, age, gender, interests, behaviors, and similarity
to your existing customers. This enables you to:

Reach the right people, which drives down cost and

and increases effectiveness.

Cater your content for specific groups, which

improves the experience for the consumer.

Come into contact with people who are already

engaging.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #3
HIT THE BULLSEYE
WITH ONLINE ADVERTISING

HOW TO DO IT
Use social media and search engine advertising platforms!

Create Facebook ads and choose to have them

displayed for age, gender, and demographics of your
target audience.

Run SEM campaigns, also known as paid search or

pay per click advertising, to put your business in front
of people searching for your services

Take advantage of the lookalike audience feature of

these platforms to find and target people similar to
your current customers.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #4

PRODUCE
CONTENT
FOR HUMANS
WHY 2017?
With advancement in machine learning, search
engines and applications are producing results
aligned with human thinking and behavior, not just
algorithms and keywords.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #4
PRODUCE CONTENT
FOR HUMANS

WHAT’S THE BENEFIT?

People will actually read your content.
People don’t favor your content because it
ranks on Google. They favor your content
because it speaks to them and resonates with
them.

You will rank higher on search engines.

If online users favor your content, Google will
reward you and favor it too.

Build trust with your audience.

People are looking for businesses run by real
people they can trust. If you sound like a robot,
you’re not only not going to resonate with your
audience; you’re going to look like you’re more
interested in ranking on Google than you are in
helping them out.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #4
PRODUCE CONTENT
FOR HUMANS

HOW TO DO IT
Produce content based on what customers
want to know, not on target keywords.

When using keywords, use variations.

Write to humans, not for search engines.

Write in your voice.

Diversify your content for different

target customers.

EXAMPLE
Create blog posts or video tutorials that answer
questions your target audience may have. If
your business helps them once, they may
return to your website as a resource in the
future, or eventually turn to your services.

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 MARKETING MUST DO
#5

LEVERAGE
MICRO
INFLUENCERS
WHY 2017?
Influencer marketing is the new celebrity
endorsement. Social media and blogging have
enabled otherwise “ordinary” people to express
their expertise and obtain a celebrity-like status
within a particular niche.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #5
LEVERAGE
MICROINFLUENCERS

WHAT’S THE BENEFIT?

Effective Marketing
Online word-of-mouth marketing works. People
are more likely to buy products and services
when recommended by people similar to them.

Low Cost Promoting

Microinfluener relationships promote your
business by leveraging existing connections
within your target market.

Expand Your Reach

If you can get your business in front of an
influencer’s target audience, you are getting in
front of not only more people, but more relevant
people.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #5
LEVERAGE
MICROINFLUENCERS

HOW TO DO IT
Reach out to microinfluencers and present an
ask/offer that provides mutual benefit for both your
business and the influencer.

For example: Invite a popular mommy blogger or a

doula to a free prenatal yoga class in exchange for
some coverage on social media or a blog review.
If they love it, their followers will love it too!

QUICK TIPS

Reach out to microinfluencers on the social

platform they engage on most.

Familiarize yourself beforehand with

their content and style to show your
genuine interest and to communicate
most effectively with them.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #6

THINK
OUTSIDE
THE INBOX
WITH EMAIL
WHY 2017?
The online experience has become a multichannel,
multimedia experience. People check their email
with the expectation of performing a number of
actions, consuming diverse content, and jumping
between windows and applications.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #6
THINK OUTSIDE THE
INBOX WITH EMAIL

WHAT’S THE BENEFIT?

By integrating email with your other channels of
communication with your target audience, you create more
opportunities to convey important information to your target
audience. This enables you to:

Cross-promote offers.

Strengthen your messaging.

Deepen engagement with your target audience.

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 MARKETING MUST DO #6
THINK OUTSIDE THE
INBOX WITH EMAIL

HOW TO DO IT
Diversify the topic and forms of content within
each email.
Show snippets of the content from your other
online channels with links to the full content.

EXAMPLE
A monthly newsletter that includes upcoming events,
top blog posts from the month, social media contest
results, and company updates (and links to read more).

An email sharing customer “fan” photos from Facebook

or Instagram to encourage others to post about your
business.

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 ThriveHive is an all-in-one Guided Marketing Platform that
provides local businesses with a marketing plan, a
professional website, and the tools and expertise to effectively
manage all of your marketing efforts, all in one place.

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